


Live a Life, Shin Ryujin

by Gimmedafood



Series: K-Pop Short Stories [3]
Category: ITZY (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Photographer Shin Ryujin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gimmedafood/pseuds/Gimmedafood
Summary: Shin Ryujin grew up in an obscure little town where nothing big happens and nothing ever changes. She’s had the same friends since kindergarten, played guitar in the school band, and was set to attend the community college her dad taught at.Life was simple.Ordinary, maybe. Uneventful, yes. But it was safe.And that was all perfectly good enough for her, until Hwang Yeji
Relationships: Hwang Yeji/Shin Ryujin
Series: K-Pop Short Stories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016142
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	Live a Life, Shin Ryujin

Shin Ryujin grew up in an obscure little town where nothing big happens and nothing ever changes. She’s had the same friends since kindergarten, played guitar in the school band, and was set to attend the community college her dad taught at.

Life was simple.

Ordinary, maybe. Uneventful, yes. But it was safe.

And that was all perfectly good enough for her, until Hwang Yeji.

She arrived in their small middle-of-nowhere town at the start of junior year, dragging with her the Jeon-ju sun and her big-city attitude.

And in the town where nothing ever happens, word about the new girl spread like wildfire across their neighborhood in the days leading up to the new school year.

Lots of people said crazy things, speculating that she was a disgraced chaebol exiled as punishment. Some whispered that she was recently out of rehab and came to keep a low profile. Others twittered that she had gotten pregnant and was hiding from her abusive ex.

No one was sure of anything, but all the stories agreed on one thing - Hwang Yeji had arrived in the middle of the night with a handful of suitcases and only her little sister in tow.

Ryujin paid no mind to the rumors; she never cared much for the high school gossip gauntlet. She’s always kept her head down and minded her own business. It was safer, to keep to herself. She didn’t make many friends, but she didn’t make any enemies either.

Ryujin caught a glimpse of her in the cafeteria at lunch over her friend’s shoulder - just a flash of silver hair - but she was gone before she could actually see her. God knows where she went, as she didn’t stop to eat with anyone.

She was seated with her friends, Lia and Chaeryeong, as they started brainstorming for this year’s recital. She had intended to contribute to the conversation, but it was hard to when all anyone wanted to talk about was the new girl.

Lunch period was buzzing with fresh news on her. A couple of guys from band said that she had killer legs underneath her ripped black jeans. Girls she knew from PE hypothesized that she must be a slut based on the color of her lipstick. Some of the fuckboys made jokes about seeing under her low-cut shirt.

Eventually, Ryujin sighed and connected her Airpods, wanting no part in their mindless rambling.

.*.*.*.*

They met on the second day of school, during math class.

Well, technically, they didn’t _meet_ , per say. She took her preferred seat in the back of the classroom, connected her Airpods and started doodling melody tracks for their years recital on the back of her notebook, ready for the routine worksheet and chatter of the class.

Sometime after the 2nd song had finished in her ears, Ryujin felt the presence of someone taking the seat next to her, but she paid them no mind, choosing to focus on the worksheet. It wasn’t until the teacher walked in and said something that caused all eyes to snap to the back of the room, that she chose to look up.

Ryujin discreetly removed an Airpod in time to realize that people actually weren’t looking at her, but at the unfamiliar girl beside her.

For the first time, she looked at her, mind still slightly muddled from being yanked out of her music. She only registered one thing: captivating fox eyes.

She stared back at her with… was it curiosity? She was inclined to think so. But before she could grasp it in her foggy brain, she’d turned away. A mysterious smirk rose on her face, one that made you wonder what secrets she knew, and she slowly stood up from her seat.

Everything about her was poised to kill - from her dangerous smile, to her deliberately graceful stance. Like a sphinx, or maybe a gumiho. Either way, she had them all under a spell, and she knew it.

She introduced herself as “Yeji” and said she was from Jeon-ju. She didn’t bother elaborating, and the teacher waved off the introduction, simply wanting to get the formality over with. 

As she turned to sit back down, their eyes met again. There was a light pink dusting her cheeks, which Ryujin thought might’ve been from nerves. So she offered her a small smile in greeting, her fringe falling to the side. Yeji’s eyes widened at the gesture, but she smiled back anyway.

They breezed through the syllabus quickly, but god forbid the teacher let them off the hook on their first day of class.

“You’ll be working in pairs for the first quarter of the school year, so go ahead and pick your partner.” Mr. Kim said, starting to pack up his things. “The first assignment is to read their first four chapters and do the exercise at the end of each chapter.”

In the sea of vehemently groaning students, Ryujin sighed in resignation and stuffed her book in her bag. She didn’t have any friends in this class, so at best, she hoped to find someone she was friendly enough with that would be willing to be partners with her.

“Do you wanna be partners?” Asked the boy in front of her, Jung Hoseok.

It took a second for Ryujin to realize that he wasn’t talking to her, but was talking to the new girl next to her, Yeji.

But Yeji wasn’t looking at Hoseok. She was looking at Ryujin.

Whatever the rumors about her, Ryujin realized they’d left out one thing: that she was beautiful. No matter her legs, or her lipstick, or what was under her shirt, she glowed like she was made of stardust, and it was fascinating.

“Sorry,” She said in reply to Jian, her dark eyes locked to Ryujin’s brown ones. “I already have a partner.”

In hindsight, Ryujin should’ve known then that nothing was going to be the same. She should’ve said goodbye to her simple life. She should’ve bid adieu to ordinary, uneventful, safe life.

Because Hwang Yeji was about to change everything.

.*.*.*.*

She’s not sure how exactly it happens, but suddenly Hwang Yeji is eating lunch at the band kids’ table.

After she single-mindedly decided that they were going to be partners in math for the quarter - which she’d accepted because Yeji didn’t seem like the kind of girl who would take no for an answer - she’d invited herself over to Ryujin’s house to work on their first assignment.

Still shell-shocked from the unexpected turn of events, she’d complied and led the way to her house.

To her surprise, she was amazing at math. Not decent, not logical, amazing. Like genius-level amazing. Recites-the-entirety-of-pi sort of amazing.

“What, beauty can’t have brains?” Yeji teased her lightly, tapping her chin with her pointer when her jaw had dropped open for the millionth time that first afternoon in surprise at her speed.

Ryujin shook her head and recovered quickly, smirking at her. “No, I just didn’t expect you to know all of this already.”

.*.*.*.*

She had no problem with physical touch, Ryujin had surmised rather quickly. A feather touch on her arm whenever she stood to grab some water. A light brush over her shoulders as she walked by. Even pushing her fringe back whenever it covered her eyes.

And how she stared too. Yeji held eye contact like nobody’s business. She looked at Ryujin like she would find the goddamn answer to life right there in her eyes.

Thanks to her, they managed to breeze through their homework quickly, and as payment for her doing all the significant work, Ryujin whipped up some fried rice for them to share.

It unnerved her, how Yeji openly watched her, resting her chin against her palms as she smiled devilishly up at her. If she didn’t know better, she would think that she was flirting with her, which made no sense because why would she?

And maybe she was. Maybe it was the kind of flirting that meant something. But just as much, maybe it was the kind of flirting that meant nothing.

So, to play it safe, Ryujin feigned ignorance to her advances and brushed them all off.

At first, she tried to make small talk, but Yeji quickly took control of the conversation. It was clear that they would only talk about what she wanted to talk about - which was everything NOT including herself. She asked about her family, about her hobbies, about band (“No, it’s not that kind of band,” she clarified. “I mean the school band. Piano, not punk rock.”

She steered them so well that she almost missed it, the flicker behind those dark eyes when she asked about Jeon-ju.

Maybe it was sadness. Maybe it was anger. Whatever it was, Ryujin didn’t ask again.

And all of that somehow led to her deciding that she was going to sit with her at the band kids’ table the next day.

There was no missing the confusion and surprise that overcame the group when Yeji, out of the blue, popped into the space between Ryujin and Lia, already mid-sentence about her chemistry class.

“What?” She said sweetly. She glanced around the table and turned expectantly to Ryujin, her black eyes wide with doe-like innocence. It would have been easy to believe that she was really oblivious if there hadn’t been a mischievous glint lurking in her smile.

From Yeji’s other side, Lia threw Ryujin a what-the-hell-dude face. But to her credit, Ryujin didn’t miss a beat.

“I actually like Ms. Kang.” she answered, as if there was nothing weird about the beautiful, mysterious, potentially heart-breaking girl sitting amongst mediocre peasants.

“She’s straightforward and assertive. There are no grey areas with her.” Ryujin continued, taking a bite of rice.

Yeji laughed, the sound like a million possibilities being opened at once.

“So that’s your type, huh? I’ll have to remember that.” She winked and reached over to steal a dumpling from Ryujin’s bowl. She let her.

Ryujin ignored the wide eyes and bated breath of her friends, falling into easy conversation with Yeji. She didn’t get why they were acting so weird.

Sure, she was different, dangerously flirty, and empirically speaking, super hot. But she was also super nice, laughed at dumb jokes, and complimented earnestly. Her brand of sunshine was a welcome change in the town where nothing happens and everything is always the same.

She left immediately after eating, flashing a stunning, starlit smile to the whole table and gently (perilously) running a hand through Ryujin’s hair. Once she was out of sight, her friends wasted no time in interrogating her.

“Girl, what the hell?” Chaeryeong said, leaning forward from across the table. “That girl is trouble.”

Ryujin rolled her eyes, raking her hair back into place. “You don’t know that.”

“Uh, yeah we do!” Yuna piped up. “Do you know what the basketball guys were saying?”

“No, I don’t. And I don’t want to hear it.” Ryujin sighed, ready to reconnect her Airpods to block out their drama. It wasn’t fair for people to say things about her when she wasn’t there to defend herself.

“But-”

“It’s the 3rd day of school, guys. And we’ve known her for what, one day? Give her a break, will you?” She huffed, putting her Airpods in and turning away from her friends.

Yeji sat with them again the next day. Ryujin tried to keep her hopes at a minimum, prepared for the possibility that her presence was only temporary.

Yet she always came back the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that.

But it wasn’t like she didn’t have other options.

Despite the rumor mill still going strong, the offers to sit with far cooler cliques came almost daily - “Yeji, come sit with us!” called the captain of the cheer team. Or “Gorgeous, I’ll save a spot for you?” from the football team. Or “We love your style, can you give us some inputs?” from the drama kids.

She got asked out on dates a lot too, often within earshot of Ryujin - by Taehyung from the football team, Jimin from the theatre guild, Chanyeol the student body president. Sometimes she would outright say yes. Mostly she’d wink and say they could call her later, but walk away without giving them her number.

But there was something about her that just continued to draw people in, not even mildly dampened by her choice to sit at the band kids’ table.

Ryujin didn’t try to seek her out, already set in her routine for the year, but somehow she always seemed to be there - a smile from across the hallway, a shoulder nudge in the line for the cafeteria, a companion on her walk home.

Slowly, and yet all at once, they formed a friendship, and Hwang Yeji carved herself a place in Shin Ryujin’s life.

One afternoon, while taking a break from that week’s math homework, Ryujin blasted some BLACKPINK as she made them dinner. To her surprise, when she came back with two plates in hand, she was greeted with the sight of Yeji freestyling a routine in the middle of her living room.

They didn’t talk about it. Judging from the bright blush that tinted her cheeks when she noticed her standing in the doorway, she didn’t want to.

But the following day, Ryujin slipped a flyer for the dance team’s open auditions into her locker. She didn’t bring it up, but she spotted the flyer in her bag at lunch.

Another night, a weekend spent watching K-dramas in her bedroom, Yeji spotted some interesting landscape photos on her desk.

“These are really good.” She remarked. “What app did you use to edit these?”

“No app,” She chuckled, absently scrolling on her laptop to find another drama. “I took those on film.”

Without asking for permission, she started rifling through her desk, eventually finding her two vintage cameras in the bottom drawer.

“These look like serious shit.” Yeji commented as she returned to her bed, bringing the cameras with her. “Like hardcore artisty photography shit.”

Ryujin rolled her eyes, ignoring the pang in her chest and the sensation sliding down her spine at the sight of this personified Aphrodite, wearing her shirt and boxers, silver hair cascading down her back and holding a vintage camera to her chest.

Who knew Yeji with a camera would be such a turn on?

She held her eyes, as if she could read the words dancing though her mind. Maybe it was her muddled, horny teenage brain, but she could’ve sworn her eyes flickered down to her mouth.

She was so close, her small pink lips just right there. And she wasn’t pulling away.

Ryujin coughed and looked away. The trance was broken.

“Be careful with those.” She said, resuming the pretense of searching for a show.

“Why aren’t you part of the photography club if you’ve got talent like this?” She asked. “Or at least the photographer for the school’s newspaper.”

Ryujin shrugged. “It’s not practical.”

“As opposed to?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged again. Something inside of her shut down in discomfort. “Being an accountant, I guess. Like my dad wants me to be.”

“But you suck at math!” Yeji giggled, forcing her to look back at her. She smiled softly, lips turning up at the corners.

“Well, I thought I did alright until you came along, Miss Genius.”

“Seriously though,” Yeji pressed on, tracing her cheekbone with her thumb. She had gotten used to the affection at this point, and knew better than to take them to heart. It was just how she was. Ryujin wasn’t anything special.

“You don’t want to pursue this?”

Ryujin shook her head. She’s had this conversation before, but she was in Yeji’s position, filled with hope and optimism. That idealism had been squashed a long time ago.

“What’s the point if you can’t make a living out of it?”

Yeji frowned at her, and for the first time since they’d started this strange friendship, she felt like she’d disappointed the taller girl. Oddly enough, it twisted a knife in her chest.

“The point isn’t to make a living, it’s to live a life, Shin Ryujin.”

They didn’t talk about it again that night, but the next day at lunch, Ryujin found a registration form for an upcoming photography workshop tucked neatly in her bag.

She turned to Yeji, who was seated next to her (a position Lia had begrudgingly relinquished), and found her pointedly staring straight back at her.

She leaned close and rested her chin on her shoulder, her breath ghosting against the shell of her ear. If she turned her head just a few centimeters to the side, they would be kissing. Instead, she took a sip of water, proud of her nonchalance, but careful to not move away from her.

“Live a life, Shin Ryujin.” She whispered, voice so low that only she could hear.

And she would. She didn’t know it yet, but she would do just about anything that Yeji said.


End file.
